And she forgave him.
And then she collapsed, her eyes flashing white as they rolled back in her head. The Doctor caught her before she could hit the floor. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders. Then he found himself, for the briefest of moments, unable to move or speak, his face buried in her hair. Determination hardened in his eyes-- a look that had saved lives and destroyed worlds in equal amounts.
"Jack!" he called finally.
Jack sprang from the far corner where he and Martha had been trying to give them some privacy. Without a word he took the Doctor's place at Donna's side and the Doctor ran back to the controls.
The Tardis started to lurch and heave then steadied herself.
"Sorry," the Doctor said, "no time for niceties." He'd pulled a thin veneer of calm over his face, but Jack could see he was breathing heavily, his knuckles white where they clutched the edge of the control couch.
"Are we back at her place?" ask Martha tentatively.
The Doctor shook his head. "No, just out in the Void. It's... it's quieter here. I need to be able to focus-- to concentrate." He seemed to be almost too distracted to speak. Martha wondered if he was even talking to them as he continued almost muttering. "It's going to be that much harder the second time around and it's got to be done right-- perfect."
He walked back over to Donna and Jack started to get up. "No," said the Doctor, "stay. You too Martha, over here."
"Really?" Martha asked before she could stop herself. She and Jack looked at him questioningly. For a beat she didn't think they were going to get any explanation-- or one that too deeply wrapped in technobabble for them to follow. Instead the Doctor just shrugged and said, as if it were the more ordinary thing in the universe, "Could use some help is all."
He looked from one of them to the other. "Just focus your thoughts on Donna-- or me, but nothing else. You understand? Try not to think about anything else that's happened today-- or what might happen tomorrow. Everything important is right here." Again, he seemed to be saying it more for his own benefit. Martha realized she'd never seen him so doubtful, but immediately tried to wipe the thought from her mind.
Think only about the Doctor. She had to smile-- she'd plenty of practice doing that. Jack caught her look and gave her a rueful little grin in return, clearly thinking the same thing. Hope it doesn't matter what we're thinking about the Doctor...
He knelt at Donnas side, placing his hands on either side of her forehead and closed his eyes, brow furrowed. After only a few seconds he nodded slightly and then tilted his head to one side as if listening for something. One eyebrow popped up. "Hmmm... that's all right," he whispered, "but, wait... that's odd." He took a deep breath, focusing harder. "No, no, that must be right. Only, I thought..." he trailed off, blinked a few times, and then dropped his hands, rocking back on his heels.
"It's done." He said, sounding exhausted and not at all triumphant.
"So she'll be all right then?" ventured Martha. "It worked?"
"Yes, it worked." He stood up suddenly. "She won't remember a thing-- not even, I think, if someone tried to remind her. It's done for good this time. No going back." He turned his back to them and stared up at the center of the Tardis.
"You think?" said Jack.
The Doctor gave a shrug without turning around. "There was a second there where I thought something was blocking me-- but that's impossible. The wipe was complete. Total. Nothing left. Nothing left of any of it..." He gave a sigh, "but, like she said, she's alive. And that is something."
He shook himself out of whatever thought he'd been lost in. "Well! Now! Let's get her back home and then the two of you can get back too... we all have places to go, don't we?"
He jumped towards the controls with an shadow of his usual energy. "There's this nebula I've been meaning to visit-- supposed to produce a harmonic resonance that you can hear through your hair. Imagine that! It makes your hair sing! Just think of the symphony I'm in for..." He grinned at them, teeth flashing, but the smile didn't reach his eyes.
Moments later they bumped gently to a halt on the sidewalk outside of the Nobel home. By a lucky stroke no one was home. The Doctor flashed his sonic screwdriver and the door popped unlocked. They carried Donna's still unconscious form into the living room and propped her up on the couch. Jack and Martha looked at the Doctor and then headed back out to the Tardis, leaving him alone with her.
He stood across the room, watching her chest rise and fall.
"Donna Nobel," he began. The door banged open.
"They're here! He brought her back!" It was Slyvia and Wilfred.
The Doctor closed his eyes and sighed.
Syliva and Wilf stopped short in the doorway to the living room, looking at Donna's still form.
"Is she...?" Sylvia managed.
"She's fine," said the Doctor. "Just the way she was. And I'm just going..." He headed past them, into the hallway.
"Oi!" came the familiar exclamations from behind him. "What? Did I just fall asleep sitting here? I tell you, I'm not drinking any more of those wine lagers-- I don't care what Suzie says..."
"Donna, How are you feeling dear," said Sylvia, in a more gentle, motherly tone than the Doctor had heard from her before. He stopped, hand on the doorway.
"Can I get you anything?" asked Wilf, "A nice cup of tea?"
"Naw," said Donna, "I'll be fine, just whatcha get after too many nights out. Where have you two been anyway?"
"Oh, out trying to get this blasted laptop computer fixed again." Slyvia settled quickly back into her usual bitter banter. "Ever since your grandad insisted we get that video camera thing, it hasn't worked at all."
"You never know," said Wilf, "when you'll need something like that. Everyone's got them these days and what with..." he cut himself off.
"Well, I don't care one way or another," said Donna, "don't go near the things, 'cept for work. And that's just tap-tap-tap and who cares?" She paused and the Doctor started to open the door, not sure what had kept him eavesdropping. "Although..." Donna sounded thoughtful, "Grandad, have you tried to recompile the kernal since you installed the new hardware?"
The Doctor froze.
"What?" Wilf asked at the same time as Slyvia.
"Yeah, just pop into the BIOS," Donna continued as if she were discussing how to record Big Brother. "Hit the F2 key at start up, follow the prompts... nothing too it."
"Donna," Wilf said gently, "how do you know that?"
"Dunno," she said, "just seems obvious-- it's only a laptop, not a rocket ship or anything..."
"You don't know anything about rocket ships, do you?"
"Haw!" Donna crowed. "Not bloody likely. Anyway, I'm going to take a shower -- big night with the girls."
The Doctor's shoulders sagged in relief. A grin spread across his face as he ran down the walk to the Tardis. He burst through the doors just as he burst out laughing. "Brilliant! She's brilliant-- impossibly brilliant!"
Martha and Jack stood open mouthed.
"Doctor? Is... is everything OK?"
The Doctor bounded up to them. "OK? It's hardly OK! It's fantastic!" He grabbed Martha by the arms and started to twirl her around. "Do you realize Martha Jones-- do you realize I have no idea how she's done this?" He laughed again, "that's a rare, rare thing that is."
"Jack!" He whirled away from Martha and sprang towards Jack.
"Are you going to twirl me around too?" asked Jack hopefully. "'Cause that would be a rare thing too..."
The Doctor ignored the teasing. "Where's your wrist strap? What happened to it when we came back to the Tardis?"
"I don't know," said Jack puzzled, "I wasn't really paying much attention--"
"It's over there," said Martha. "Where Donna was."
"Of course! She's not just brilliant, that one. She's sneaky too..."
"Doctor," said Jack patiently, "are you going to tell us what's going on? Is Donna OK? Are you OK?"
The Doctor ran over to where Martha had pointed and grabbed up the Wrist Strap. He peered at it, then came a flash and the wine of the sonic screwdriver. "Huh," he said after a moment, shaking his head.
Finally he looked up at them, bemused. "She figured out something-- found something maybe, back on..." he stumbled for a moment, "... back in that cave. And I don't know how-- but I felt it when I was wiping her mind. She found some way to hold on to just a tiny sliver of what she had. Just the tiniest bit of Timelord mind. Not enough for much-- but not enough to hurt her either."
"But she doesn't remember anything?" asked Jack.
"Nope. Not a thing," but that didn't seem to dampen his humor in the least. "And she told me too-- tried to anyway. Said everything was going to be OK..." he drifted off. "Brilliant," he muttered, shaking his head. He walked over and surprised them both by throwing an arm around each of them.
"What a great day," he said without a trace of irony. "Everybody gets to live. Everybody gets to be OK. Marvelous." He sighed contently and then hopped over to the controls. "Well, let's get you home then."
Jack and Martha exchanged a glance. "Doctor, are you sure you're going to be all right-- on your own I mean," asked Martha. "You could come visit us -- you know, for a little while."
"What? At Torchwood?! I don't think so... " he made a face. "Anyway, I'll be fine-- don't you worry about me." He grinned at them both. "Did I mention? Singing nebula! Hair! Haw!"
